Location of Hypervelocity Star HE 0437-5439

Going, Going, Gone: Star Leaves the Milky Way

In this illustration, the hot, blue star HE 0437-5439 has been tossed out of the center of our Milky Way galaxy with enough speed to escape the galaxy's gravitational clutches. The stellar outcast is rocketing through the Milky Way's distant outskirts at 1.6 million miles an...

A Speeding Star is Caught on Hubble's Camera

This NASA Hubble Space Telescope image shows the hypervelocity star that was kicked out of the center of our Milky Way galaxy with enough energy to escape the galaxy's gravitational grip. Dubbed HE 0437-5439, the stellar speedster may have been a member of a triple-star system...

Triple-star System Passes near Milky Way's Central Black Hole

This illustration shows one possible mechanism for how the star HE 0437-5439 acquired enough energy to be ejected from our Milky Way galaxy. In this scenario, a triple-star system, consisting of a close binary system and another outer member bound to the group, is orbiting near...

Compass/Scale Image of Hypervelocity Star HE 0437-5439